Battling Hyperdrive Ne Insomnia

Okay guys, sorry, sorry, sorry. In true ENTP-fashion I got completely distracted by other projects and life in general and so this blog has been quite empty for a while. But there is this one topic sitting in my mind that’s been on my mind for quite a while. That’s Ne running wild, which is especially annoying if for instance you want to go to sleep. And your mind just spirals out of control. And you end up with Insomnia. Again.

The reason I’m blogging about this today is because I know quite a few ENTP’s (and just Ne-doms and –auxies in general) who have this problem. And not all of them deal with it in a very healthy way. Many use drugs or alcohol to gain some focus and just numb down the spiral. And while I’m not against using drugs or alcohol per se, I don’t think it’s a good way to deal with your mind. So let’s talk about an alternative.

An introduction to Ne

First of all, for those wondering, – and all you MBTI-experts can skip this paragraph – let me briefly explain about Ne. Ne is our main cognitive function and so it’s both the function we use most naturally and the function that energizes us most. Ne stands for Extraverted iNtuition (yeah, I guess eN would be more accurate, but hey, that’s the way things are). There are several things you should know about Ne:

It’s a perceiving function. This means Ne is about how you obtain info from the surrounding world.

Ne is iNtuitive. This function relates to picking up subtle signals. It’s about the information we obtain subconsciously, as opposed to S-functions that rely on conscious processing of sensory information.

Ne is Extraverted. That means it’s focused on information we get from the outside world (as opposed to for instance Ni, which is focused inwardly).

With all these things combined, typical Ne goes a bit like this: we notice subtleties about everything and through these subtleties we connect things with each other. Which is why our thoughts go from subject A to subject B to subject C in rocket speed. Okay, so that’s a quick introduction to Ne, now let’s move on.

So what’s the problem? Ne sounds awesome!

Ne happens inside our minds. It’s like rambling, but often without even expressing ourselves. It can be the best thing in the world and is definitely our biggest strength, which is why I don’t believe in numbing it down. It helps us come up with creative solutions to virtually any problem. It helps us connect the tiniest of similarities, drawing conclusions on a very subtle level.

It’s also a pain in the ass. Because when it’s well past midnight, you don’t always want to stay awake for hours thinking about all these awesome projects you could be doing, with every minute the project becoming more awesome in your mind and gaining more body and you’re developing more new ideas. Until it’s 5AM, you’re absolutely exhausted, you finally fall asleep and in the morning the project doesn’t even seem half as awesome anymore.

Luckily, there’s a pretty simple way to break this Ne-spiral-of-awesomeness-and-doom and it doesn’t involve self-medication.

The absolute ultimate brilliant solution, you will never guess this one, number two will leave you speechless [enter more clickbait]

Part of me wants to create a super long post where you’re going to be impressed by this awesome solution, but that’s honestly BS so I’m going to keep this clean and simple:

Grab a piece of paper and a pen or pencil.

Write this shit down.

By putting things on paper, you’re activating your different functions, allowing yourself to process everything Ne is doing. In the mean time, you give Ne a pause. Added benefit: in the morning, you’ll be able to read everything back.

In my experience, the best way to do this is to let your brainstorm rage on for about 15 minutes, then get up and write everything down. By then, you’ll have sufficient input to keep writing for at least several minutes. These several minutes of pause will calm your Ne down. After that, go back to bed. You’ll notice you’re a lot calmer.

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